As we got out of the car in the driveway of the Village Sons Foundation (YPD) NGO house in Palembang, South Sumatra, it was easy to notice that there was a lot going on. Young people were attending the chores of the facility. A community group was sitting in the front room working on a better understanding of gender in their programming. Staff were working at the many desks that occupied every room of the old house, while Director Arhandi and others came out to greet us. In the converted house, the walls demonstrated the results of intense learning activity with lists of objectives, and action plans as well as organizational structures and pictures of project activity.

YPD was started by several youth from Srikembang village to help improve the lives of its residents. They later moved to the provincial capital of Palembang to expand their work. For example, YPD also addresses the needs of the numerous street children and their families. Kids are on the streets of Palembang working everywhere; as garbage haulers, handling shovels in street repair, shining shoes and filling the lowest positions on the work chain. This NGO provides temporary shelter, basic health care and economic assistance to the fragments of families that they can find.

Heifer Indonesia has chosen to work with YPD because of their interest in poor and neglected people – not in the city but in the rural villages. They have taught values-based planning and management (Cornerstones Model) for just and sustainable development, the incorporation of appropriate gender balance in their groups and other learner-centered education courses. The result is a partner in development that is able to pass on that gift of the Cornerstones Model to numerous community groups scattered around South Sumatra. We met several of those groups who have created solid community projects because of a solid dose of values-based planning ………….

……... in Srikembang village along a broad and muddy river, villagers depend on the water for their livelihood. Fishing is either good or bad based on the flow of the water and the nutrients provided or denied by upstream conditions. So, the families joined together in the Oki Fish Project, received community-based training from YPD, built wooden fish cages, and received Patin and Bawal fish through Heifer. The program is new and so are the learning experiences,  but the proceeds from the sale of fish in the market will provide additional income for the community group families. After the first batches of  fish were sold, the group used a participatory process to decide how to improve the project. They will now stagger the purchase of fingerlings to be able to get a better growth rate during the best water conditions and then to hit the high season in the market. If good planning leads to higher productivity, this group is prepared. On the wall of the bamboo feed storage hut next to the river is their chart of meetings planned and group member responsibilities. Cornerstone: Training and Education.

……...in Bangsal village right in the river. We traveled by boat to get to this village island where YPD has started a water buffalo project using the methodologies taught by Heifer Indonesia. These docile, yet strong, beasts will produce a rich and nutritious milk to make Gulapuan, the local candy that is sold for income. This community group has also responded to Heifer’s focus on improving the environment by setting aside a hectare of the island for Mahogany, Teak, Caliandra, Sungkai and Eucalyptus trees. These are variously used for construction, as a feed source and are transplanted for live fencing. Cornerstone: Improving the Environment.

Another of the NGOs that Heifer works with is called Kemasda. Their activity is in training of Community Animal Health Volunteers in Indonesia (CAHVIs). Two individuals are identified in each village who will take on the responsibility of being specially trained in animal health and husbandry. Their role is to provide service to the Heifer animals and to other animals held by fellow villagers. Since few trained veterinarians reside in the countryside, the CAHVIs must take that role. They pay close attention the Heifer staff veterinarians and other local professionals in order to provide the best service.

On the day we were there, the village was having a vaccination and deworming campaign for their cattle. CAHVIs offer advice about nutrition and other health issues. CAHVIs provide an excellent resource for the local governments in being the first level of information when special health programs need to be taken to the villages or when disease outbreaks occur. Cornerstone: Improved Animal Management.

Still another Heifer Indonesia partner calls itself Pandu Insani NGO. They work in some of the poorest villages along the Musi river, where fishing and rice make up the only available economy. The community group in this village has taken their training seriously and proudly displays their charts of program indicators and activities. Purchased feed sources are difficult to provide for livestock, so they struck on the novel idea of raising an improved strain of ducks and feeding them snails that are either home-raised or collected from the rice fields. They also feed the ducks aquatic river plants that float right by their houses. Duck eggs are sold through an area dealer. The group also incubates eggs using their own chickens and domestic ducks to set the eggs. These provide the pass on birds for their project as well as increasing the number of their own investment. Cornerstone: Sharing and Caring.

All of these NGOs have taken the Cornerstones of the Heifer Indonesia program seriously, converting their new knowledge into projects that allow villagers to have control of their lives and their future.


The Heifer International Asia/South Pacific staff veterinarian writes about his visit to Heifer Indonesia's work around Palembang,
South Sumatra

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